Lake Michigan Part 3

Lake Michigan (Part 3)

August 21, 2012

Another early morning departure for Time and Tide and we were on our way to St Joseph’s.

Entering the harbour at St Joseph

In St Joseph’s we fueled up because we burnt a lot of diesel coming down Lake Michigan. The fuel here is $3.69 a gallon compared to $5.89 in Chicago!!!! So cheap we just couldn’t believe it! We also got a free pump out!! Bonus!!!

Gary photo bombing the FlyingFree crew

Arrrrrrr me matey

Gary also got to go shopping at Wolf’s Marine. They sell a lot of stuff on consignment and a lot of their stuff is at reduced prices…he was like a kid in a candy store!!

We tied off to the free wall in St Jo and were soon joined by MV Wild Goose, SV Flying Free and SV Teasa.  Our friends joined Gary and me for a wedding anniversary dinner at Clementine’s.

Henning made us some great Mai-Tais for an after dinner drink and there was much discussion about the weather and when a good crossing day would be to head over to Chicago.

Sundown on the wall - St Jo

The best weather was for Tuesday so Gary and I decided we were going to go for it.

The wall is not an ideal place to stay as it is located between two busy bridges; one is a railway swing bridge and the other a heavily travelled vehicle traffic bridge…..the swing bridge sounds a loud horn every time it swings and it did so throughout the night every hour on the hour. BUT still, it is a free place to stay and that beats out everything else.

August 22, 2012

We were up at 4:45am, the earliest travel day yet.

This crossing was going to last about 7 hours and it would be the “scariest’ crossing because once you leave the Eastern side on lake Michigan there is nowhere to hide if the waves and winds turn foul, you just have to keep going till you hit the western shore.

I had checked the weather over and over (obsessing much??) but was still nervous as we headed out in the dark.

Now, I have to confess, I worry. I worry about the weather, the cats, Gary (sometimes), other boaters, the kids at home….(you get the picture?)…. Since we started talking about the Loop we had read blogs and heard from people who have said that Lake Michigan is the worst part of the trip. People get stuck for weeks waiting for good weather to travel, rouge waves hit boats and destroy them , winds pick up and smash your boat around, nasty travelling all around. (That is why they have “safe haven harbours” every 20 miles along the East coast of Lake Michigan)

Pedrfect day for crossing Lake Michigan
Chicago Skyline

We had none of that bad stuff. We had excellent travel days, or as Ann call it, Christelle Days. We just didn’t go out in bad days. We stayed put! We checked the weather and picked our days and had wonderful calm seas, light winds and less than 1 foot waves (That is a Christelle travel day)

And we crossed Lake Michigan on a Christelle day too. The weather was perfect. We could still see the lights of St Jo behind us when we spotted our first big smoke stack lights on the western shore.

It was so calm Gary lay down and napped for an hour leaving me in control of the helm! (Gary insist that I tell you all that I napped for two hours)

At 1230 Eastern Time (1130 Western Time) we arrived at Hammond Marina which is in Indiana, not quite Chicago Illinois, but close enough. The marina here has a special for the Loopers where you can stay one night and get the next one free. For the money we save we can take a train or something into town and explore to our hearts content.

2nd World War Ford Tri Motor
(we missed the airshow that was last week, Poor Gary)

We are as excited as a couple of kids. I think it is mostly that Lake Michignan is behind us now and there will be no more obsessing about the weather…….for a while at least J

Before we can head down the rivers Gary will have to take down the radar and all our antennas so we can pass under the bridges going through down-town Chicago.

I don’t know when we will leave here. We plan to stay at least a week but things change all the time.

Good bye Lake Michigan

                                                  Ode to Lake Michigan                                                                                                                      Before our Loop even began,

we were told to fear you, Lake Michigan.                                         

Your scary winds and random waves

seemed fit,only for the braves.                                                                                       

But you treated us well,

and our days were all Christelle

Things that I will always remember about Lake Michigan: Huge white sand dunes and crystal blue water. Fudge shops and ice-cream parlours, friendly people we met everywhere we went

Things that Gary will always remember about Lake Michigan: Beam seas through the Mackinac Straights which became waves on our stern as we turned South down Lake Michigan. And that big riding a roller-coater wave into Manistee Harbour, scary stuff J

Thank you, Lake Michigan, for a safe passage and some wonderful memories.

...............................to be continued